An unmanned Chinese spacecraft carrying rocks and soil from the Moon returned safely to Earth early Thursday, completing another chapter in China's effort to become a space superpower.

Russia on Monday conducted a second launch of its new heavy-class Angara rocket -- the first developed after the fall of the Soviet Union -- nearly six years after its maiden voyage.

A Chinese probe was orbiting the moon on Monday in preparation for the returning of samples of the lunar surface to Earth for the first time in almost 45 years.

The ascent module of the Chang'e 5 spacecraft transferred a container with 2 kilograms (4.4 pounds) of samples after docking with the robot spacecraft on Sunday and was afterward cut free.

Rome's majestic umbrella pines are as much part of the landscape as the ruins and cobbled streets, but they are under threat from a tiny insect invader -- the pine tortoise scale.

A Chinese probe carrying samples from the lunar surface successfully docked Sunday with a spacecraft orbiting the moon, in another space first for the nation, state media reported.

Japan space agency officials on Sunday hailed the arrival of rare asteroid samples on Earth after they were collected by space probe Hayabusa-2 during an unprecedented mission.

A Chinese space probe has lifted off from the surface of the Moon to return to Earth, an ambitious effort to bring back the first lunar samples in four decades.

A Chinese space probe sent to gather material from a previously unexplored part of the moon has completed its mission and is preparing to send back the world's first lunar samples in four decades, Beijing said Thursday.

An unmanned Chinese spacecraft landed on the moon Tuesday, state media reported, marking only the second time the country had successfully placed a probe on the lunar surface.

A fireball spotted falling from the night sky over parts of western and central Japan has lit up social media, with users sharing images of the unusually bright shooting star.